Making this list was not as straight forward as you might think. Deciding what is a memoir was the problem, as some of the books are partly memoir and partly something else. If the author appears to say a lot about her or his own experience, I err on the side of inclusion, for many readers like books with the personal touch of memoirs even when the overall book has a different focus. "Biography" is also sometimes hard to nail. Think about books like The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War or A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon. How much of a book needs to biographical for it to be biography? I have again erred on the side of inclusion.
The reviewing sources are in wonderful disagreement as to what 2009's best books are. Combined their lists provide a diverse view on books of merit for the year. There should be something here for everyone.
Amazon: Top 100 Editors Picks
Biographies
Cheever: A Life
Blake Bailey
Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
Terry Teachout
Robert Altman: The Oral Biography
Mitchell Zuckoff
The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
Douglas Brinkley
Memoirs
American on Purpose
Craig Ferguson
Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
William Kamkwamba
Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival
Norman Ollestad
Kids Are All Right: A Memoir
Diana Welch
Open: An Autobiography
Andre Agassi
Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven
Susan Jane Gilman
Atlantic Monthly: Books of the Year
Biographies
Abraham Lincoln: A Life
Michael Burlingame
The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth: A Life
Frances Wilson
Charles Dickens
Michael Slater
Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor
Brad Gooch
Florence Nightingale: The Making of an Icon
Mark Bostidge
Samuel Johnson: A Biography
Peter Martin
Booklist: Editors Choices 2009
*Top of the List
Biographies
Cheever: A Life*
Blake Bailey
Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor
Brad Gooch
Gabriel García Márquez
Gerald Martin
John Milton: A Hero of Our Time
David Hawkes
Joseph P. Kennedy Presents: His Hollywood Years
Cari Beauchamp
Louisa May Alcott: The Woman behind Little Women
Harriet Reisen
The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart
Mary S. Lovell
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom
Graham Farmelo
The Thoreau You Don't Know: What the Prophet of Environmentalism Really Meant
Robert Sullivan
Tom and Jack: The Intertwined Lives of Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock
Henry Adams
When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets
Timothy Black
Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector
Benjamin Moser
The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
Douglas Brinkley
Memoirs
City Boy: My Life in New York during the 1960s and '70s
Edmund White
Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival
Clara Kramer and Stephen Glantz
Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times
Ralph Stanley and Eddie Dean
Stitches
David Small
Things I've Been Silent About: Memories
Azar Nafisi
Library Journal: Best of 2009
Biographies
Ayn Rand and the World She Made
Anne C. Heller
The Hanging of Thomas Jeremiah: A Free Black Man's Encounter with Liberty
J. William Harris
The Hawk and the Dove : Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War
Nicholas Thompson
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession
Allison Hoover Bartlett
Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist
Thomas Levenson
The Sisters of Sinai : How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels
Janet Soskice
Soul of the Age: A Biography of the Mind of William Shakespeare
Jonathan Bate
A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, and Their Remarkable Families
Michael Holroyd
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac
Graham Farmelo
Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington
Robert J. Norrell
Memoirs
Cooking Dirty: A Story of Life, Sex, Love and Death in the Kitchen
Jason Sheehan
Knowledge in the Blood: Confronting Race and the Apartheid Past
Jonathan D. Jansen
Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service—A Year Spent Riding Across America
James McCommons
Los Angeles Times: Favorite Nonfiction of 2009
Biographies
Cheever: A Life
Blake Bailey
Strength in What Remains
Tracy Kidder
Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector
Benjamin Moser
Memoirs
Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo
Werner Herzog
Not Now, Voyager: A Memoir
Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Stitches: A Memoir
David Small
New York Times: Notable Books of 2009
Biographies
Ayn Rand and the World She Made
Anne C. Heller
Cheever: A Life
Blake Bailey
Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits
Linda Gordon
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon*
Neil Sheehan
The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
T.J. Stiles
Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor
Brad Gooch
Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthelme
Tracy Daugherty
In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke's War on the Great Panic
David Wessel
Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America
Steven Johnson
Last Empress : Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China
Hannah Pakula
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
David Grann
Louis D. Brandeis: A Life
Melvin I. Urofsky
Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life
Carol Sklenicka
Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend
Larry Tye
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom
Graham Farmelo
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original
Robin D.G. Kelley
Weight of a Mustard Seed : The Intimate Story of an Iraqi General and His Family During Thirty Years of Tyranny
Wendell Steavenson
Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector
Benjamin Moser
The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
Douglas Brinkley
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Memoirs
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater
Frank Bruni
City Boy: My Life in New York during the 1960s and '70s
Edmund White
Closing Time: A Memoir
Joe Queenan
Lit: A Memoir
Mary Karr
Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir
Christopher Buckley
The Lost Child: A Mother's Story
Julie Myerson
Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever
Walter Kirn
The Mercy Papers: A Memoir of Three Weeks
Robin Romm
My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times
Harold Evans
Open: An Autobiography
Andre Agassi
Publishers Weekly: Best Books of 2009
*PW Top 10
Biographies
Cheever: A Life*
Blake Bailey
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon*
Neil Sheehan
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Gerald Martin
Judas: A Biography
Susan Gubar
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon
David Grann
Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
Terry Teachout
Strength in What Remains
Tracy Kidder
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
Jon Krakauer
Memoirs
Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir
Susan E. Isaacs
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater
Frank Bruni
Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
William Kamkwamba
Have a Little Faith
Mitch Albom
In Due Season: A Catholic Life
Paul Wilkes
Land of the Lost Souls: My Life on the Streets
Cadillac Man
Larry's Kidney: Being the True Story of How I Found Myself in China with My Black Sheep Cousin and His Mail-Order Bride, Skirting the Law to Get Him a Transplant--and Save His Life
Daniel Asa Rose
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home
Rhoda Janzen
Stitches: A Memoir*
David Small
True Compass: A Memoir
Edward M. Kennedy
Washington Post: Best Books of 2009
*Book World 10 Best
Biographies
A. Lincoln
Ronald C. White Jr.
The Art of Making Money: The Story of a Master Counterfeiter
Jason Kersten
The Ascent of George Washington
John Ferling
Charles Dickens
Michael Slater
A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon*
Neil Sheehan
First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
T.J. Stiles
The Hawk and the Dove : Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War
Nicholas Thompson
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
Apostolos Doxiadis et al.
Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet
Mark Adams
Passing Strange : A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line
Martha A. Sandweiss
The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy
Adrienne Mayor
Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong*
Terry Teachout
Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life
Carol Sklenicka
Rebellion of Ronald Reagan : A History of the End of the Cold War
Jim Mann
Soul of the Age: A Biography of the Mind of William Shakespeare
Jonathan Bate
A Strange Eventful History: The Dramatic Lives of Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, and Their Remarkable Families*
Michael Holroyd
Strength in What Remains
Tracy Kidder
Sweet Thunder : The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson
Wil Haygood
Tchaikovsky
Roland John Wiley
The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst
Kenneth Whyte
Under the Big Sky: a Biography of A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Jackson J. Benson
Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master
Michael Sragow
Memoirs
Annie's Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret
Steve Luxenberg
Armenian Golgotha
Grigoris Balakian
The Art and Politics of Science
Harold Varmus
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater
Frank Bruni
Boy Alone: A Brother's Memoir
Karl Taro Greenfeld
A Brain Wider Than the Sky: A Migraine Diary
Andrew Levy
Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor
Tad Friend
The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer's
John Thorndike
Lit: A Memoir
Mary Karr
The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday : Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East
Neil MacFarquhar
My Two Polish Grandfathers: And Other Essays on the Imaginative Life
Witold Rybczynski
Nothing Was the Same: A Memoir
Kay Redfield Jamison
Open: An Autobiography
Andre Agassi
The Photographer
Didier Lefèvre
Somewhere Towards the End
Diana Athill
Stitches*
David Small
The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education
Craig M. Mullaney
War Child: A Child Soldier's Story
Emmanuel Jal
When the Game Was Ours
Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson
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